On the Eighth Day of Turkish…Ibek Duben
Posted by: Broad Strokes on: February 8, 2010
What is a Turk? How do you define Turkish life? How do you dispel false opinions about everyday life in Istanbul? Ibek Duben (b. 1941) attempts to answer those very questions in What is a Turk? Using thirty postcards, Duben created a work that comments on the prejudices that have been formed about Turkey. On the front of each postcard is a picture of some aspect of everyday life in Istanbul. On the backs of the postcards are quotations from historical figures that visited Turkey during the twentieth century and wrote about their impressions. Viewing both sides of the postcards together provides contrasting ideas about the reality of Turkish life. The quotations are written proof of the stereotypes about Istanbul that existed and still exist in Western thought while the photographs provide visual representation of actual Turkish life. This work serves as a reminder and visual symbol of what defines Turkish identity.
Ibek Duben, What is a Turk?, 2003, thirty framed postcards in six concertino packs, 6.3 x 4.7 in each
Ibek Duben, What is a Turk?, 2003, thirty framed postcards in six concertino packs, 6.3 x 4.7 in each
Come see this work and learn about Turkish life in the exhibition A Dream…but not Yours: Contemporary Art From Turkey opening February 12th.
About the Author- Breezy Diether is currently an education intern at NMWA.
On the Seventh Day of Turkish…Gülsün Karamustafa
Posted by: Broad Strokes on: February 7, 2010
Born in 1946, Gülsün Karamustafa is a multifunctional installation artist, as well as a film director living and working in Istanbul. Her work features the female role in Turkish culture involving their migration from rural interiors into city centers and the resulting changes brought to the country. She references religious icons in her work to depict the Orthodox nature of Turkey.
Double Jesus and the Baby Antelope, 1984, Quilt, 72.8 x 90.6 in.
Double Jesus and the Baby Antelope represents the fashion changes caused by the migration of Turkish women from rural areas into large cities. The women wore “kitsch” fabric designs sought after by women in other countries such as Russia and Ukraine. Gülsün Karamustafa uses iconic pictures of Jesus to show the religious affiliation of Turkey.
Chronographia, 1994, Sixty framed prints, 8.3 x 11.8 in.
Chronographia is an installation of sixty magazine covers of Radyo Haftasi (Radio Week), each with text and commentary by the artist’s father. The gold frames bring an iconic status to the pictured women and emphasized their celebrity status at the time. The installation as a whole represents happier times before the subsequent generation was plunged into political turmoil. Walk amongst the idols of Turkish society and view the work of Gülsün Karamustafa on February 12th at NMWA!
About the Author- Ali Printz is currently an intern in the Library and Research Center at NMWA
On the Sixth Day of Turkish…I’m a School Girl Again
Posted by: Broad Strokes on: February 6, 2010
Ayça Telgeren, Pinocchio, 2006, Acrylic on canvas, 46.1 x 35.4 cm.
Ayça Telgeren (b. 1975) uses her own childhood memories and her experience as a teacher in Istanbul as the subject matter of many of her works. Through their slouching postures and defiant stares Telegren has imbued these young girls with power. The muted background allows the figures to dominate the composition. Whether Pinocchio is an actual memory of Telegren’s or not, she has captured some of the trials of growing up that resonates within many of us.
Looking at Pinocchio transforms me into an awkward and anxious young girl. I am transported to a bus stop and these three girls approach me. Sweat begins to prickle on my forehead as I nervously fix my glasses. I sigh and think to myself, “It’s going to be one of those days.”
Come see this work and others by Telgeren in the exhibition A Dream…but not Yours: Contemporary Art From Turkey opening February 12th.
About the Author- Breezy Diether is currently an education intern at NMWA.
On the Fifth Day of Turkish…Canan Tolon
Posted by: Broad Strokes on: February 5, 2010
Blanking Out, 2007, acrylic and oil on canvas, 86.6 x 51.2 in.
Blanking Out is considerably different from the rest of the pieces in A Dream…but not Yours: Contemporary Art from Turkey. Canan Tolon’s work is an enigma in itself, attempting to depict psychological content limited by physical space. Born in 1955 in Istanbul, Tolon is a painter and installation artist currently living and working in Emeryville, California. Her architecture background plays a role in her compositions, especially in Blanking Out which consisting of four panels of loose black and white grids, Tolon’s main interest is the concept of space, how it is visualized, treated, politicized, imagined, and remembered. Blanking Out represents a landscape after destruction and reminds me of the disarray of post-Minimalism and the contemporary symbolism used by Anselm Kiefer.
Take a closer look at Tolon’s work on February 12th in our second floor galleries!
About the Author- Ali Printz is currently an intern in the Library and Research Center at NMWA
On the Fourth day of Turkish it is Hard to Die
Posted by: Broad Strokes on: February 4, 2010
Layers of scars run up and down the arm of the young girl featured in the photograph Hard to Die by Selda Asal (b. 1960). When I first saw this photograph it was painfully striking to me as I realized the significance of those scars. Reacting against societal pressures, this girl used her own body to vent her feelings of oppression. The title of the work might seem unusual as it suggests the difficulty of dying. Yet, upon further reflection the title of this work takes on new, tragic meaning as this young girl clearly found it even harder to live then to die.
Selda Asal, Hard to Die, 2007, Digital print on Dibond, 27.6 x 39.4 in.
The issue of conformity for young girls is further illustrated in Selda Asal’s photograph Everything Is Okay. This work features a topical view of a young girl holding a wedding cake figurine. The artist chose an angle above the girl to create a sense of confinement. The young girl’s head is bent, suggesting defeat, as she remains powerless, accepting societal expectations represented by the bride and groom doll.
Selda Asal, Everything is Okay, 2007, Digital print on Dibond, 27.6 x39.4 in.
Come see this work and others by Asal in the exhibition A Dream…but not Yours: Contemporary Art From Turkey at NMWA opening February 12th.
About the Author- Breezy Diether is currently an education intern at NMWA.
On the Third Day of Turkish… Merve Brill
Posted by: Broad Strokes on: February 3, 2010
The third installment of women artists featured in A Dream…but not Yours: Contemporary Art from Turkey showcases another favorite artist of mine, Merve Brill. Born in Istanbul in 1982, Brill currently lives and works in Berlin. Two of her large-scale paintings on fabric, Bicycle and Just Singing, both from 2008, are featured in the exhibition.
Just Singing, 2008 Acrylic on fabric, 135 x 210 cm.
Just Singing is emotionally heavy. A young girl stands in the midst of a dark, never-ending forest, holding a microphone in front of her face. Her body is blurred and translucent and the trees in the background emerge through her dress and skin. The image represents the loss of innocence. The merging of the foreground and background allude to the need for the young woman to find her own way in a complex world.
Bicycle, 2008 Acrylic on fabric, 250 x 135 cm.
Bicycle features the same commercial fabric for the background that is applied in Just Singing, forming a narrative between the two paintings. A lone, blurred bicycle is transposed within the same dark, gloomy forest. The bicycle appears to be moving, or perhaps lying on its side in a pool that reflects the trees back at the viewer. Whatever the case may be, perhaps the bike was the vehicle for the girl’s arrival into the forest. I enjoy Brill’s paintings because of the seemingly unintentional art historical references. Not only does she reference the Dadaists with her use of readymade fabric, but she also incorporates the gloomy undertones of the German Expressionist movement.
Come see Merve Brill’s work on February 12 at the opening of A Dream…But not Yours: Contemporary Art from Turkey.
About the Author- Ali Printz is currently an intern at the Library and Research at NMWA
Now Open! Pomp and Power: Antoinette Bouzonnet Stella’s “Entrance of the Emperor Sigismond into Mantua”
Posted by: Broad Strokes on: February 2, 2010
My biggest challenge while performing research for NMWA’s new spring exhibition, Pomp and Power: Antoinette Bouzonnet Stella’s “Entrance of the Emperor Sigismond into Mantua” was grappling with the fact that so little information has been published about the artist, French printmaker Antoinette Bouzonnet Stella (1641–1676). Like many women artists, her history has been obscured over the centuries, fragmentarily preserved in footnotes and forgotten documents. Fortunately, there was a way around this debacle: with no access to formal art school, Antoinette was trained by her uncle, Jacques Stella, a prominent painter, printmaker, and court artist to Cardinal Richelieu in Paris. Much more well-known than his niece, Jacques Stella served as the first focal point of my research. By studying his life and work, I was able to construct a context for the career of Antoinette Bouzonnet Stella.
Antoinette Bouzonnet-Stella, Plate 17 from "The Entrance of the Emperor Sigismond into Mantua", 1675 (published c. 1787); after Giulio Romano and Francesco Primaticcio; Engraving on paper; 6 ½ x 15 ¾ in.; Gift of Chris Petteys
A friend and colleague of Nicolas Poussin (1594–1665), Jacques came to prominence in the 1630s, a period when the appearance of ancient Greek and Roman art gained popularity over the flamboyant, theatrical style of the sixteenth century. Jacques studied ancient Roman sculpture first-hand in Italy and reproduced its weighty, idealized forms in his paintings and prints. In 1636 he became court artist to Cardinal Richelieu, chief minister to Lois XIII, who commissioned Jacques to create public art that embodied the lofty political, militaristic, and intellectual connotations of Classical antiquity. Jacques enjoyed success under Richelieu and was awarded prestigious lodgings in the Louvre.
Gracing freshly painted walls, Antoinette's prints look stunning in NMWA's Teresa Lozano Long Gallery
At age thirteen, Antoinette and her siblings moved to the Louvre at their uncle’s invitation. There, she mastered various techniques of printmaking and collaborated with her sisters in copying paintings by their uncle and Poussin. Antoinette also received her own commissions: in 1675, she executed The Entrance of the Emperor Sigismond into Mantua, a series of twenty-five engravings for Louis XIV’s minister of finance. NMWA is fortunate to have a complete set of these engravings, which from left to right replicate a stucco frieze that wraps around the Sala degli Stucchi (Room of the Stuccos) of the Palazzo del Te in Mantua, Italy.
Antoinette Bouzonnet-Stella, Detail, Plate 18 from "The Entrance of the Emperor Sigismond into Mantua", 1675 (published c. 1787); after Giulio Romano and Francesco Primaticcio; Engraving on paper; 6 ½ x 15 ¾ in.; Gift of Chris Petteys
Created a century before Antoinette’s lifetime by Italian Renaissance artists Giulio Romano (1499–1546), a pupil of Raphael’s, and Francesco Primaticcio (1504–1570), the frieze in Mantua narrates a crucial event in Mantua’s history: in 1433, Holy Roman Emperor Sigismond visited the city and bestowed the title of marquis on Gianfrancesco I Gonzaga. The frieze aggrandizes Sigismond’s visit by portraying him at the center of a Roman adventus, or triumphal entrance into a city. Sigismond, dressed in the armor of Rome, enters Mantua flanked by soldiers, musicians, river gods, sacrificial animals, slaves, and spoils of war.
Giulio Romano (1499–1546) and Francesco Primaticcio (1504–1570) Stucco frieze from the Sala degli Stucchi, Palazzo del Te, Mantua, Italy, around 1530; Image courtesy of the Frick Art Reference Library
Brilliantly executed, Antoinette’s Entrance of the Emperor Sigismond into Mantua exemplifies the power of a narrative borrowed from antiquity, employed in sixteenth-century Italy, and later appropriated by the French court.
Pomp and Power: Antoinette Bouzonnet Stella’s “Entrance of the Emperor Sigismond into Mantua” is on view through August 22, 2010, in NMWA’s Teresa Lozano Long Gallery.
Raphael Sikorra is Curatorial Assistant and Exhibition Coordinator at NMWA
On the Second Day of Turkish…Dance to Your Own Beat!
Posted by: Broad Strokes on: February 2, 2010
Nevin Aladağ, Raise the Roof, 2007, Video, 9 minutes
That is exactly what four women did in the performance piece Raise the Roof by Nevin Aladağ (b. 1972). Perched on platforms of tar, equipped with stiletto heels and headphones, the women danced vivaciously to different songs played through their headphones. While the women were unified, dancing together on a rooftop, they each made their own marks on the tar they danced upon, leaving a permanent and distinct pattern of footprints. This piece comments on a woman’s ability to be part of something communal while maintaining individuality. The dancer’s freedom of expression was declared through their unique movements and tempos. Come see this work and others by Aladağ in the exhibition A Dream…but not Yours: Contemporary Art From Turkey at NMWA opening February 12th. Raise the Roof will remind you to dance to your own beat!
Nevin Aladağ, Raise the Roof, 2007, Video, 9 minutes
About the Author- Breezy Diether is currently an education intern at NMWA.
On the 1st Day of Turkish…
Posted by: Broad Strokes on: February 1, 2010
Welcome to the first blog post of the 12 days of Art from Turkey! A Dream…but not Yours: Contemporary Art From Turkey is opening on February 12th in our second floor galleries and will feature 11 inspiring women artists. For the next 11 days leading up to the opening of the show, a different artist and their works for the exhibition will be showcased here. On the 12th day, a blog about the installation of A Dream…but not Yours will be featured on Broad Strokes.
Leyla Gediz, Turn, 70x50cm, Oil on Canvas
The first artist that struck my interest in the show was Leyla Gediz, a young painter and native of Istanbul. Her work echoes the propaganda of the pop artists of the 1960s, yet adds a more personal, almost autobiographical spin on the subject. She experiments with mixed media, oil, acrylic, as well as stenciling, adding an urban graffiti edge. Gediz has three paintings in the show, Turn, Republican, and Terakki Remix, all created within the last four years. The paintings, along with the others in the exhibition, play with ideas of gender roles for women in contemporary Turkey. A woman is destined to play a certain role in society, but can she step out of that role under socially complex circumstances and reach for her own dream?
Turn, in my opinion, seems to be the standout of the three works by Gediz. It features a monochromatic Hollywood glamour shot of Orlando Bloom with another image of a winding, abandoned road transposed over his face. It seems as if Gediz has removed identity in this piece and replaced it with desolate feelings of the unknown, perhaps what fame and fortune can do to one’s stigma. True character is for the viewer to decide.
Leyla Gediz, Republican, 2006, 50x60 cm, Oil on canvas
Another piece by Gediz is Republican, a series of four identical portraits of the artist’s literature teacher, done in the stereotypical Che Guevara revolutionary format. The image of Gediz’s teacher was taken from a speech she gave on Turkish Republic Day, which celebrates the creation of the republic in Turkey after the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire. Gediz’s teacher must have had an inspirational impact on her life, as she has given her a revolutionary, dictatorial position within the painting. The final piece in the show is Terakki Remix, a section of wallpaper patterning. Gediz used a stencil to trace the silouhettes of a man and small child into on intricate pattern. The work is simple yet effective and plays with the relationship between parent and child.
Leyla Gediz is just one installment from the exhibition, A Dream…but not Yours: Contemporary Art from Turkey. Tune in tomorrow for the next installment of the 12 Days of Art from Turkey and expand your horizons!
About the Author: Ali Printz is currently an intern in the Library and Research Center at NMWA
Identity Exposed
Posted by: Broad Strokes on: January 29, 2010
Camille Claudel, Young Girl with a Sheaf, c. 1890, bronze, 35.9 X 17.8 X 19 cm. Gift of Wallace and Wilhelmina Holladay
When I stand before a piece of art, I try to imagine myself as of one of the figures in the work. I dream up a world in which the painted or sculpted figure would have lived. As the girl in Camille Claudel’s Young Girl with a Sheaf, I feel discomfort and unease. I feel bare, nervous, and even ashamed, as if my secrets, desires, and hopes are unveiled before a crowded audience hall. Sculpted by Claudel (French, 1864–1943) at the end of the nineteenth century, the figure sits before the viewer naked and vulnerable. The smooth contours of the girl’s body do not suggest erotic undercurrents but rather feelings of embarrassment and timidity. Tension ripples beneath the girl’s skin, creating an awkward mood of reservation, while the rigidity and coarseness of the base adds to her apprehensiveness. Claudel skillfully infused emotions into her sculpture.
Created in the shadow of Auguste Rodin’s renown, Claudel’s works have only recently been rediscovered and exposed for their own artistic merit. Claudel not only worked as an assistant and model for Rodin but she also had a passionate love affair with him, causing her artistic talent to be overlooked by her personal life. However scholars have identified Claudel’s hand in some works by Rodin, which suggests a more extensive artistic collaboration between the two sculptors. This revelation begs the question: where did the work of Rodin end and where did that of Claudel begin?
Come see Young Girl with a Sheaf in NMWA’s collection galleries. Do you get the same feeling of uneasiness as I do?
About the Author- Breezy Diether is currently an education intern at NMWA.
